


your eyes can be so cruel (just as I can be so cruel)

by Saber_Sloth



Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler, Twilight Series - All Media Types
Genre: Branding, Canon-Typical Violence, Ciel is Bella, Even as Bella Ciel is kidnapped, F/M, Het only because I'm a girl with girl parts and writing malexmale feels awkward and I fail at it, Nightmares, Panic Attacks, Reincarnation, Slow Burn, Tags Are Hard, Tell me if I need to use more tags, Vampire venom bite Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-08
Updated: 2015-11-22
Packaged: 2018-04-30 14:21:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5167061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saber_Sloth/pseuds/Saber_Sloth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A soul's fate is such a fickle thing. For a demon of such discerning tastes, why would Sebastian over indulge now?</p><p> <br/> </p><p>(Yes, the title is from Labyrinth.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The end of the beginning

**Author's Note:**

> I'll be using Kuroshitsuji 1, Book of Circus, Book of Murder, and I probably will be using things from the manga. I'm not going to be using Kuroshitsuji 2 because it directly interferes with what I'm aiming for with this piece of fanficiton.
> 
> I'm doing this for fun, I'm not making any money I don't own anything but my own ideas, my massive pile of bills, and my eviction notice can attest to that.

—

Stars strewn - scattered among the purple and blues of the ever darkening sky - tiny pinpricks of lights twinkling in indifference—silent witnesses, as he sat, his dark hair fluttered in the warm and gentle evening breeze.

He stretched slowly, languid in his manner.

A self satisfied smirk stretched his lips as he turned his face to the sky. The body next to him was still, leaning against his.

It was even better than he had imagined. He purred with pleasure as his fingers absentmindedly traced a pattern on the shoulder next to his. His fingers danced down his partner's, until he could twine their fingers together, as breif, and as light as a butterfly's wings, only for a moment before letting go.

Sweet, and bitter.  
(Innocent nobility, and ever reaching despair.)

Spiced - tempered to perfection.  
(Fighting, changing everything that would not align with his reality. Shaking off the horror of the past, while forsaking the future, sacrificing dreams. Focusing into...)  
  
The headiness had his body thrumming in pleasure.  
(...that single minded, driven need to achieve his goals.)

'It is a shame,' he thought as he went to lick - curling his pink tongue around his glove less finger. Cleaning it of the last of the essence of the smaller body next to him had released. 'That this is the last I will taste of you,'

A sadness curled around him, dimming his pleasure. He didn't think he would taste anything like this again.

'Although...' He moved his finger from his mouth as the thought struck him. He released what remained between his fingers out among indifferent glittering stars.

Perhaps he would be fortunate enough to find this once more, maybe he might taste this, taste  _him_  again - either way him relinquishing this would sow confusion among _their_  ranks.

The amusement he would glean would entertain him until he found his perfect prey once again.

With a nostalgic, wistful sigh he stood and left the cooling body of Ciel Phantomhive alone on the bench, apathetic stars twinkling merrily as the demon once known as Sebastian Michaelis disappeared into the mists.

—


	2. Sudden Colour

  
—

 

Her life before Forks, before Edward was dull, plain and empty.

It was like there was something missing. A part of her insisted that it was someone missing, but the practical part of her mind explained away that longing as a few too many romance novels.

When their eyes met that first time, it was like Bella's world exploded. It was like her life suddenly shifted from a silent black and white movie to full colour.

Her life had finally come alive.

And she knew that it was all because of Edward Cullen.

 

—

 

If she was being honest with herself, when she realized something was different, when something had truly changed within her, was with the dueling sensations in that ballet studio — the unimaginable, undeniable agony as venom-fire burned it's way through her veins. Searing away her humanity as she stared unblinkingly as the blurring shapes of Emmett and Jasper as they dismembered the tracker - James, and threw the pieces of him into the raging fire.

Ice came to her then, as she belatedly realized what she was hearing from the conversation between Edward and Carlisle - Let her turn, and become one of them, one of the dizzying beautiful members of the Cullen family, a vampire with all the beauty, strength and (hopefully) grace that would bring.

Or, suck the venom out.

She fell unconscious as she felt Edward's ice cold lips upon her wrist.

As she was drifting in and out of focus - consciousness in the hospital, all she could hear was 'Smile.' over and over again. She smiled when she woke, and told them she was fine, that she'd heal, but she didn't know the voices that called out for her to smile and none of the voices in the hospital matched the varying voices that her memories recalled.

She chalked it up as a pain, or drug induced hallucination, but even a hallucination could offer good advice.

When she was settled back in her bed at home, Edward's arms around her, she started dreaming of red eyes.

When she woke, Edward held her, offering comfort. Her murmured words, still ringing in his ears. Her sleep talking, his only avenue to truly gain insight into her silent mind.

He held her as he told her that it was perfectly normal for her to dream about the beasts that attacked her, that the dreams would pass - in time, that he would protect her.

That he would always protect her.

But it wasn't the gleaming rubies of the human drinking vampires that haunted her sleep.

Bella kept that to herself. Not wanting to worry the man she loved needlessly, but the haunting, mesmerizing red eyes were never far from her thoughts.

Sometimes she still heard someone call out for her to 'Smile'.

And she always, always dreams of fire.

 

—

 

Then he left.

Taking his whole family with him.

When he left her there is the woods she was devastated. The love of her life abandon her, didn't want her. Everything about their relationship was a lie. He took apart of her with him when he left.

There was a part of her, a small part screaming, that he had taken the _colour_ with him.

She collapsed in on herself — the thought that they had only stayed as long as they did to see her bones mended, then it was too close to her birthday to be considered polite to leave, but with the accident they had a ready made excuse.

Alice would have known that Jasper would have needed to feed, if there was a possibility of Bella hurting herself.

Even if none of the others knew anything that happened —Edward and Alice would have.

And that was enough to break her heart even more.

Bella, lost in her fresh, raw agony, didn't register anything as she was taken from the forest.

 

—

 

When she woke she was cold, and numb. Everything seemed to flicker in black and white.

In a single timeless moment she didn't remember.

Then it came back to her. Tears fell from her eyes. Sobs broke out from her throat. She started shaking.

"You really are pathetic." The soprano voice cut through her agony like a hot knife through butter.

Bella's head shot up, there, crouching next to her on the mattress was the lithe form of a vampire. Her ruby eyes gleaming in the light of the single bulb over head, her ivory skin a stark contrast to her flame coloured hair as it danced around her her face.

She didn't even blink and the redhead vampire - Victoria, she remembered the voice of Laurent call her. His voice swirling around her like a smoke before dissipating just as quickly. Victoria disappeared from her crouched position on the mattress. It took Bella a few moments to even realize that the vampire had moved.

When Bella's eyes found her again the vampire was leaning against the door frame. Bella didn't know vampires could move that fast. The Cullens had always attempted to appear human to her even if they relaxed their control when she spent time in their home.

"This could have been a good plan." The vampire - Victoria started, "But that little performance in the woods....I know he loves you, and lets just say that it didn't deter me, as your Cullens would have hoped."

Hope blossomed in her heart. Did that mean that this was all a plan, the harsh words Edward had spoken they were lies. Were the Cullens trying to protect her again. Trying to bluff the vampire in front of her, were they trying to make her follow them, leaving her alone. Even though Bella didn't know about the plan, she knew the Cullens still cared, that they still loved her. Now that their plan has obviously failed they would come for her.

"They will come for you." Victoria spoke echoing her thoughts, "And I, will be waiting."

With that Victoria left, closing the heavy metal door behind her.

 

—

 

The room she was in was small. Smaller than her bedroom in Forks. The walls cracked concrete. The door was old, heavy and rusted metal. There was only a single bare light bulb that kept flickering.

Bella quickly lost track of the days.

Sometimes Victoria remembered to feed her. Some meat with a dark gravy, it was always cold.

After too many accidents where Victoria had found her covered in her own urine, she brought Bella a box, full of grey pebbles for her to use.

She was starving. She smelt like her own pee.

And her captor had given her a litter box to use.

Then next time Victoria fed her, she just tossed her an open can of pet food. Cold meat and dark gravy.

Bella looked up at the smirking vampire.

Her reply echoed in the room long after she left.

"You're my pet aren't you?"

She didn't know how long she had been kept there.

But still the Cullens didn't came.

 

—

 

Sometimes she would wake up with Victoria staring at her.

Sometimes the vampire was across the room, other times she woke to find the redhead inches from her face, her ruby eyes unblinking.

Bella didn't know why, and she never asked.

And still the Cullens didn't come.

 

—

 

"In rain or sleet or shine, he should have been a mailman, and not a cop little girl." Victoria meant her mocking words to be cruel, but it meant that someone even if it was Charlie, who didn't stand a chance against her vampire captor, was still looking for her.

 

—

 

She woke screaming.

She was on fire.

_She was on fire!_

Then she was not.

 

—

 

Bella looked at her arm. There, next to the silvery scar left from James' attack, was another one.

Victoria had bit her, but her heart was still beating beneath her breast.

Victoria's ivory fingers shot out, grabbing her scarred wrist with enough force to bruise.

"Maybe this will speed them up." Victoria's high soprano called out, "I was with James when we met the little psychic freak, the longer it takes them to come to your rescue, the more you'll hurt."

 

—

 

Victoria kept her word.

Every day, or every week, or every month - time lost meaning - the vampire would bite her, sucking the venom out before starting all over again.

After her right arm was covered in bites - wrist to shoulder, the vampire moved to her other one. A few bites scattered along her left arm.

Then she moved on.

 

—

 

She woke screaming. On fire once more. There was something different this time, but as her nose caught the scent of burning pork her eyes rolled back and she passed out.

 

—

 

When she woke she saw something that looked like a small charcoal BBQ, or a fire pit and a fireplace poker was leaning on it.

Bella tried to move, but the pain in her back stopped her, tears sprung in her eyes as she gasped. Her back still hurt. Victoria hadn't bit her again. The bites didn't hurt when the venom left.

Her eyes focused on the end of the fireplace poker.

Bella stilled. Her heart thundering in her chest, her breaths coming out in short gasps.

She wasn't looking at the end of a fireplace poker, but at a branding iron.

 

—

 

When she woke again the BBQ (or whatever it was) was gone, and Victoria was holding the branding iron delicately between her ivory fingers.

"You should be honored little girl. The last time this was used, I was still human and it was in the 1800s on a little unclean brat. I thought that they would come to your rescue with a few more bitten scars. Perhaps I was wrong. Their Coven already has one scared monster, what's one more to them, hmm?" Bella didn't know who or what she was talking about.

"This way they won't ever be able to pretend about your scars. You're mine little girl."

 

—

 

But still the Cullens didn't come.

 

—

 

One day not long after, (or Bella could be wrong, and it could have been months after her branding.) Victoria stripped her bare. "Perhaps there need to be more instinctive little girl." she cooed, caressing her thighs with her ice cold lips before she bit down once more. After that the vampire chose more intimate areas. Her breasts, her hips, her thighs, her stomach. All became favored areas for the redhead's bite.

Victoria was cruel, but she wasn't stupid. She never let her venom linger long enough for Bella to turn. The redhead knew that she couldn't withstand the wrath of a newborn, especially one that she had tortured as a human.

But still the Cullens didn't come.

 

—

 

Bella sat on the dirty blood, and urine soaked mattress. Her form bare save the silvery scars covering her. Only her face didn't hold any of the vampire's biting scars. Her back was reserved for the half healed brand.

"Isabella Swan." Bella's dead eyes looked up at the other women, this was the first time she had heard Victoria say her name. "It was a lovely service."

Bella blinked.

"They gave up Isabella Swan."

She blinked again.

"Your funeral. It was a lovely service. I even gave you a rose."

Victoria let that thought reverberate in her mind. Her daddy stopped looking. Tears slipped from her eyes. At least her daddy would have closure.

But the Cullens— "They were there too you know. Your Cullens. I was there, your scent clinging to me. You're blood, spattered in my hair, my clothes." Victoria walked over to her then, slow enough that Bella's weak human eyes to see the lethality and grace of a jungle cat in her every movement.

"We both know they know I have you."

That fact had remained unsaid, but it had always echoed loudly between them.

"But I was there, they didn't even try to talk to me, let alone attack me. Have me lead them to you." Victoria's hand came up, cupping her cheek, her thumb rubbing small circles. Then as abruptly as she began, she stopped. Got up and started to walk to the door.

She paused when she got there, "I thought they loved you as I loved my James. When they didn't come, I thought then that perhaps you were a favored pet. But now I know you are neither. If they don't care for you, why should I?" then she walked out the door, she didn't look back.

 

—

 

She was dreaming. She knew she was dreaming. A Manor house lay in flame. James' bonfire erupting in purple smoke as piece by piece he was added to it.

Venom-fire. Dream-fire. Swirling together. She was going to die, Bella gasped out a bitter sob, everything always ended with fire.

Slowly Bella woke, expecting the coiling smoke to dissipate as she blinked awake, but it didn't. She was alone. Depressingly alone, and she was coughing. She was coughing.

The coiling smoke hadn't left, but had gotten stronger.

Her family thought she was dead.

The Cullens never cared.

Victoria made it abundantly clear that she wouldn't be back.

Bella Swan was alone.

Shaking, shivering, her eyes hardened. She refused to die.

Bella held no illusions, facing her mortality, she would die - but she wouldn't die here.

Bella crawled to the heavy metal door for the first time since her captivity began, and tried to open it. She smelt more smoke, and recognized it for what it was.

Victoria hadn't been content to leave her to starve.

Bella could almost hear her mocking, taunting voice.The redhead was fond - Bella snorted, fond wasn't a strong enough word - of causing fire to burn through her veins, but now that wasn't an option without turning her. So the vampire had apparently decided to chose the next best thing.

She was going to burn her alive.

Bella Swan swallowed.

It always started with fire.

 

—

 

The world fucking owed her. Bella's thoughts growled hours-minutes-months later, her hands bloodied from her constant banging on the metal door.

Bella called out her voice rough from both disuse and her near constant agonizing screams.

If vampires were real, then werewolves and other things had to be real. You couldn't get one supernatural thing without others, basic storybook 101.

She shouted, both out loud and in her mind, demanding that someone, anyone. That something, anything come and help her.

The world fucking owed her, her own fairy godmother.

 

—

 

Her voice was sore, this time it was from her own shouting.

She kept coming in and out of consciousness. The smoke, thick in the air.

She couldn't die here. She refused to die here.

Victoria would pay for this. The Cullens right along with her.

She couldn't die until they paid.

She heard a half familiar voice call out to her. Bella didn't know if it was out loud or in her mind.

The voice, whisper soft, asked what she wanted, and what she would pay to achieve her greatest desires.

"Revenge." Bella whispered. Out loud and in her mind. "My mind, my body, my soul. Just fucking take it. I just want them to pay."

The voice, male, whisper soft, still holding that half-familiar quality asked, "If we are to make this bargain, you will be barred from Heaven, and be bound to walk in Hell."

A demon then. What else would caution an afterlife in Hell.

"I don't care!" Bella's voice cracking as she shouted. "I'll make any bargain, and pay any price to see them pay!" Her breast heaving with effort of her shouting.

"Very well. This will hurt." The whisper-soft voice told her, firmly, closely.

And it did.

It felt like someone was gouging out her eye. But there was no one there.

Then it was over and she was picked up by strong, warm, solid arms.

She leaned into the man-demon, she had sold her soul to and looked up at him.

She saw the black of his jacket, then the white of the skin on his neck. His artfully placed, messy black hair came next.

She looked to his face and two dark red eyes peered back at her.

"Se-Se-ba-astian." she murmured before exhaustion claimed her.

She missed his surprise. His eyes confused as he stared at the girl in his arms. She missed his lips twisting into a self satisfied, amused smirk.

But maybe it was just as well.

 

—

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to clarify something. Bella this early in the series doesn't really know for sure how Alice's visions work, and neither does Victoria. She doesn't know that will Bella being in a generic room will not lead the Cullens to her rescue. That is if Alice was watching. In the Books Edward asked her not to spy on Bella and this early in their time away Edward would be there to monitor Alice's thoughts, to make she they didn't drift towards Bella and trigger a vision.
> 
> But this might be me lying.
> 
> And the Cullens at Bella funeral. Maybe she had one. Maybe she didn't. Maybe the Cullens were there. Maybe they weren't.
> 
> I'm not putting it above Victoria to lie to Bella if that would serve her agenda. I'm also not putting it above Victoria to tell the truth if that would be more hurtful.
> 
> Now onto Bella/Ciel. No I didn't turn Ciel into a girl so she could get it on with Sebastian, in a het pairing, though I'm also saying they're not not going to end up in a relationship (I myself don't know that yet). I'm a fan of reading yaoi/slash. Male x Male relationships.
> 
> I wracked my mind to think of the person least likely to be attached to Kuroshitsuji, and made her (Bella) Ciel's reincarnation, just because I could, and also because I wanted to see how this would go.
> 
> Anyway, tell me what you think, comments are always welcome.
> 
> Until next time.


	3. Movie Reel

—

      A.

           Timeless.

                           Breathless.  
                                             Painless.

                                                           Soundless.  
                                                                             Moment.   
                                                                                           Passed.

 

Then she could feel the steady thrum of her heart. She could almost hear the heaviness of her breath. A part of her was poised to panic, because that was all that she heard.

She was cast adrift, floating in a heavy darkness.

There should be more. Water, rushing. Animals, scurrying. Bugs, skittering. Wind, sighing. Life, living.

But there was nothing.

Just...nothing.

'Was this what death feels like?' Bella wondered as a soft light flickered into existence. With a herculean effort, and no effort at all, she opened her eyes.

Swirling blues, and purples, shifting, melting into each other. Pinpricks of light blossomed into snapshots of her life.

Polaroids in black and white.

It wasn't the familiar sights of her life that drew her eyes, it wasn't even what she saw now as muted tones of the pictures of Edward and her time in Forks.

It was the blinding coloured stills. As she stared at the photos, trying to understand how so much colour and depth could exist in the world, when the image, the figures, actors within began moving.

It was a older man, and a young boy sitting, at opposing positions at the head, and the end of a long table. They were outside in what looked like a zen garden. There was an achingly familiar man, at the boy's shoulder, serving the two sitting at the table. While a woman, a maid by her apparel, her thick glasses cracked, poured red wine all over the table, missing the glass entirely. Bella watched in awe as the man - butler - at the boy's side, swiftly and inhumanly pulled the purple tablecloth from the table, leaving the dishes were they were before the older man sitting - eating - at the opposing end of the table, noticed anything was amiss.

Her eyes flicked to another of the blindingly dizzying snapshots.

The skyline was orange. The boy, the same boy with the charcoal-blue hair was running. The red haired maid from before, held twin pistols aloft in her slim hands. She was standing with a feminine blond boy, and a older blond man. The charcoal-blue haired boy barked ordered over his shoulder as a fire consumed everything.

Swiftly her eyes turned to another scene.

The charcoal-blue haired boy, whose only visible eye was blue. Bluer than anything Bella had any reference for. His other was hidden behind a black eye patch, was sitting behind a heavy oak desk, while the butler served him tea and cake.

Smiling, Bella's eyes sought another.

The charcoal-blue haired boy, Blue, she'd call him Blue, was bruised, bloodied, and bound with belts. His confident appearance cracked as the butler was shot once in the temple, them more in the chest. Bella's heart lept to her throat. _It couldn't be! He couldn't be!_  Bella's eyes sought every one of the blindingly coloured scenes, fueled with a quiet desperation she couldn't quite name.

Her heart calmed. In nearly every one of the remaining scenes was the black clad butler. Bella's eyes returned to where the scene paused, the black clad butler laying on the floor seemingly dead.

She watched as the black clad butler - Black - swiftly dispatched the men who'd shot him, after Blue spoke, saying things she could almost hear, but couldn't quite make out the words, like Blue was speaking through water. Bella watched the rest of the scene greedily. Obviously Black wasn't human, but clearly he wasn't a vampire. The distinct lack of gleaming fractals of glittering light in the sun proved that. She watched his inhuman speed, and something like a telekinetic abilities as he twisted the arm of the dirty blond haired man who'd shot at Blue.

She looked at the paused scenes she had started in her attempts to find her black clad butler. Sheepishly she cast her eyes to the one nearest to the one she just left.

She saw the Women in Red die a horrible and bloody death before she saw her interact with Blue, and her inept, suicidal butler, who wasn't at all suicidal, and was just as human as her butler. Who's blood spurted, and produced something like a movie reel, Bella knew she was missing something. She tried and tried, to climb her way through the molasses in her ears, but to no avail. She couldn't understand what was being said.

The silver lining, however, was that after each one of the scenes she felt the distance closing between her and the sound she knew each scene contained, but the scenes playing were coming faster. Almost to fast for her increasing understanding to comprehend what was being said.

She saw a bridge and a man with white hair. Then she saw black feathers as the world blackened and she was sent onto another scene.

She saw a Chinese man, and his scantily clad female companion. They were always there, even when they weren't supposed to be.

Bella was eight, and Renee had forgotten to pick her up from ballet.

As the sun set Black led Blue to a stone bench.

                            Belle-lue remembers nimble fingers.

                                                                          Hot breath. Panting against her-him.

                                             His pink tongue curling around her-his -

         His teeth biting hard enough to -

Bella, fourteen, told Charlie she didn't want to come to Forks for the summers anymore.

Blue's daily life pays. 'Bard.' the cook, burning everythi-how did he get a flamethrower!?. 'Finny' the gardeners clumsy strength destroying everything with a sheepish grin. The red haired maid, 'Meirin', and the grey haired older man, 'Tanaka' who seemed to always sit and sip his tea. Until a change came over him, and he was listened to just as well as Black.

She saw the cafeteria again, the black and whites of her childhood disappearing in favor for what she knew now where the muted tones her life gained when she saw Edward for the first time.

She saw a naked, silver haired man, who was also a dog. His name was 'Pluto'.

Alice was playing dress up with her again. Trying to put her into a white and pink feather dress. She wanted to go clubbing, or pretend to go. A vampire in a real club - music pounding, bodies writhing, blood pumping. - wouldn't end well for anyone. The scene cut out as Alice presented a pair of stiletto heels.

Blue was opening Black's wardrobe, cats piling out. Blue sneezing, and sneezing and sneezing.

Blue in a pink dress. - Ciel - in a pink dress. Kidnapped. Again.

Bella in the ballet studio, James breaking her leg.

Bella in the field full of flowers. Edward posturing, breaking a part of the tree before throwing it.

' _So the lion fell in love with the lamb.'_

Missing children. Infiltrating the Circus. Being called 'Smile', by a circus ringmaster, and a woman in white who was called 'Doll'. Bella watched, stunned as the story played out. The mastermind's life forfeit, and the Manner in flames.

Victoria biting her. Branding her.

Masked men holding - Blue, Smile, Ciel - down . Branding him.

Victoria cursing her. Taunting her.

Masked men cursing him. Taunting him.

She watched - Blue, Smile, Ciel - desperate and demanding. His blood spurting as he sealed his agreement with Black _Sebastian_ , her mind whispered. She watched the demon - for what else could he be - slaughter the men and women in the stone chamber.

She saw Victoria leaving her to die. She watched herself, scar covered and naked, shouting, desperate and pleading. Begging. Blood spurting from her eye. Her heart stopped. She stared at the man that held her...it couldn't be.

...could it?

Abruptly she was dropped into another morning scene. Where Black, Sebastian - Sebastian, her butler's name is Sebastian. - opened the heavy drapes. Roused, - Blue, Smile, Ciel - dressed him, before serving the boy his morning cup of tea.

Bella didn't realize something was wrong with the scene until she tasted the tea on her tongue. The porcelain cup was in her right hand, the saucer in her left. Bella set the cup on the saucer, then them both on the table before she met the eyes of the black clad demon in front of her.

His red eyes, amused, and his lips were twisted into a frighteningly familiar, devilishly tantalizing smirk.

Bella felt her eye twitch as she fought the urge to drop her head to the table.

 

—

 

With a smooth motion reaching for the delicate porcelain teacup, she could tell Sebastian had bought, chosen and placed her into a bra while her mind swam between memories and the harsh reality of now. The clasp probably fastened in the front, as not to draw her out of her memories, probably to see how long it would take her to realize anything was amiss.

She cast her eyes downward, she was wearing a structured button up shirt, but unlike the collar the part of her that was Bella, had been expecting, there was a bow*, which pleased the part of her that was Ciel.

She was wearing black pants, their fabric not immediately familiar, but she knew they would be fitted, flattering and not unseeingly tight.

On her feet were soft slippers, ones with cartoon cat heads on the toes. With the ease of long practice - and no practice at all - she swallowed her sigh.

"Where am I?" She asks instead.

"New York City, Manhattan. Upper East Side." her demon replies. She nods.

"Is this the city where you found me?"

"Yes."

"You couldn't find anything of me in New York though," She sips at her tea, "I was taken from the forest outside my home in Forks, Washington. I want you to find out if there was a funeral for Isabella Marie Swan, and if there was, who was in attendance." Sebastian gave a half bow, before he went to leave the room. "One more thing. What is today's date?"

"It is the eighth of September. Two thousand and six."

"Hmm. I'll be nineteen in a ten days. I was taken a few days after my eighteenth birthday." she continued sipping at her tea as she watched Sebastian leave the room.

Floor to ceiling windows. A king size canopy bed. She was currently sitting in a high back chair. The price of the room had the part of her that was Bella balk and want to run, but the part of her that was Ciel settled. She couldn't be anything less that what she was.

Sebastian returned with a file folder, and breakfast. Cinnamon french toast, topped with whipped cream and berries, with apple juice. She nearly moaned as she took a bite. She had missed Sebastian's cooking. Even when she didn't remember. She always knew that the food she ate wasn't as good as it could be. It was one of the reasons Bella learned how to cook on her own.

"There was a funeral for Isabella Swan." The part of her that was Bella shivered at the way the demon seemed to savor the syllables of her name. Sebastian placed the file folder next to her arm. "This is the list of those in attendance."

She nodded, as she opened the folder to look at the information within as she ate. There was an unknown beautiful women with white skin, and red hair. Victoria. Her eyes hardened, as she stopped eating for a moment. Swallowed, took a breath before she resumed eating. She was sure Sebastian noticed.

She looked down the list. Her friends, family. Acquaintances she knew from Forks High, and some she was sure were only there for Charlie.

The Cullens were not listed.

She finished her apple juice, closed the folder, closed her eyes, took a breath. Counted to three before she exhaled and opened her eyes. She would deal with this later. Just as she would deal with them later.

"Sebastian, I assume Funtom, was safe in your hands?" The part of her that was Ciel remembered his will, thumbing his nose at society and bequeathing his family's company to his butler. At the time he'd wondered what chaos Sebastian would sow. Now, knowing Sebastian had done something to ensure his soul reincarnated, he expected Sebastian to have taken proper care of it.

"I assumed control as per your will. And I inherited it from myself after my first 'death' and have continued to do so over the years. In my current fabricated life, as Elliot Bell I 'have' a son and two daughters. Usually I fabricate children of both genders. For a situation such as this. Normally my 'son' inherits. If I tire of the name of my assumed life, I let my 'daughter' inherit. She would marry into another fabricated family whose name I would prefer." He paused for a moment. "You will not only control what Funtom has become, but a multitude of other investments. Funtom, now, is a multi-billion dollar corporation."

She nodded. The part of her that was Bella, screamed, because she couldn't do this. She was going to crash and burn. The part of her that was Ciel, nearly purred in satisfaction, of course her butler would have met her expectations and exceeded them.

"Before I was taken, I was beginning my last year of high school. I will be counting on you to tutor me through an accelerated program. I will also need a business degree, possibly a financial degree as well. I do want to go through an English program." At Sebastian's raised eyebrow, "I enjoy reading." She answered with a soft smile. "Perhaps I shall try the violin again. No piano. Ever. And anything else you can think of that I will need to run my company."

"Yes, my lor-lady."

She smirked, at his obvious and intentional slip of the tongue. "We will have to correct that. In this day and age, one is not addressed in that manner, and one doesn't outwardly have a butler. You will be my personal assistant. You will address me as Miss Swan, or address me as Miss Bell."

"Yes, Miss. Swan."

"I assume this suite has a phone that I can use?" She asked, an idea had taken place in the moments before Sebastian returned telling her that she was declared dead, and of his fabricated children.

"It does." Sebastian nodded, and led her to the landline in the suite.

She picked up the phone and dialed a number the part of her that was Bella didn't think she would ever dial again.

She held her breath a it rang.

" _Hello._ " The gruff voice of Charlie Swan answered.

"D-daddy!" Bella sobbed in relief. She never knew how much she could have missed his vocie.

" _Bells...If this is someone's idea of a sick jok-_ -"

"No daddy it's me. I'm not supposed to phone you. I-I after I was taken in the woods, Edward just left....I look like some famous rich guys daughter." Bella stuttered. "They took me because they thought I was her." Her voice trembled, raw with emotion that didn't reach her face.

" _Bells..._ " Charlie breathed, hope threading through his voice.

"There was a ransom sent. But his kids were safe. They thought it was a prank." Bella took a shuddering breath, "They were sent a video. That's when...That's when they got the FBI involved. Even if it wasn't his daughter, he told me, it was someones. They found me a few months ago. I-I wasn't-I couldn't call. They didn't catch the guys who took me daddy. I don't know if I'll be able to call you again. They're putting me into -"

" _Witness Protection._ " his voice was hopeful, and relieved and grim all at once.

"Y-yeah...I love you daddy." Bella made a motion with her hand for Sebastian to interrupt her.

"Hey you're not supposed to be in here!"

"Bye daddy. I love you daddy!" She shouted as Sebastian took the phone and hung up.

She sat, her heart thundering, but her face placid.

"Was that wise Miss Swan?"

"I don't know."

"Will you be telephoning your mother as well?"

The part of her that was Bella thought of Renee, the times Bella had to cook, and clean after her, the times where Renee forgot to pick her up from ballet or school. How she forgot about her daughter until it suited her. "No." She answered, her voice firm.

There were questions in Sebastian's eyes, but he didn't voice them, and she didn't offer any answers.

 

—

 

After lunch, which was mushroom and spinach crepes, the afternoon was spent going over the assumed identity of Sebastian and his fabricated family.

Sebastian as Elliot Bell was the CEO of Funtom, and he was also terminally ill, he only had a few months, to a year left to live. Sebastian had been preparing to assume the identity of one of his younger children. His eldest Anna, twenty-five, wanted nothing to do with the family business, and wanted to live a bohemian lifestyle. Mostly for the fact that Sebastian didn't want to be a girl name Anna Bell.

His wife, Hope - who was also Sebastian - died during his youngest, Graham's birth. Graham was fifteen. He had been debating between taking to role of Graham, and keeping the family name of 'Bell' or assume the identity of his second daughter's who was eighteen, and being able to change his family name through marriage to himself in yet another false identity.

She wondered how no one noticed that Sebastian had been at the helm of Funtom, inheriting from himself. That his entire family was only one man, for over a hundred years. She guessed that it was mostly willing human ignorance and a bit demonic magic.

She assumed that she would have to assume the identity of the middle child, and second daughter, when she asked after her name, Sebastian swore that it was a coincidence.

At her arched eyebrow, Sebastian told her.

She laughed, her voice, high and clear with delight for the first time in nearly a year. She could handle being Isa Bell.

 

—

 

After a quiet evening and a perfect beef wellington, she had slipped behind the privacy screen in her expensive hotel suite, she might have inadvertently let Sebastian dress her that morning, but a part of her that was both Ciel and Bella raked at him doing so again, the part of her that was Bella was a blushing, stuttering mess. While the part of her that was Ciel was struggling with the notion that Sebastian wouldn't be the one to dress him, because he was now a her. And _they_ , know that they-she had enough of a mind to realize the impropriety of it all.

Though she would allow him to brush and tie her hair up for bed. It was a luxury that she never had. Renee never sat her down and just brushed her hair. The part of her that was Bella wondered, if the women who bore her ever thought to.

He was still in the room. Probably looking at her silhouette, his eyes cast in their familiar amused light.

With a shake of her head, she finished unbuttoning her white blouse. She tossed it so that it fell on the top of the screen, where her black pants soon joined it. She rolled her eyes as she unclasped her bra - it had fastened in the front. It joined the rest of her cloths.

She reached for the top of the screen, where Sebastian had place what he had chosen for her nightwear. She tugged at it. It was black, silk, the hem was white lase, as was the neckline, if it could be called a neckline. She was sure that the lace would lay under her collarbone, at the tops of her breasts. She also noticed that it came with a black silk robe.

Quickly she pulled the nightie over her head, enjoying the feeling against her skin. She would have never chosen anything like this as Bella, too unsure of herself, never mind what Edward would have thought. 'Even if I had bought something like this,' she thought as she pulled the robe on, tying it as she stepped out from behind the privacy screen, 'I would have never worn it in front of him.'

She smiled at her demon. His eyes held that same amused look she thought they would have. Though normally he would have schooled his expression before she had looked, but perhaps he knew she wanted to see it. There was something...unguarded about him now. Or maybe she still knew how to read his face.

With a few easy steps she sat in front of the vanity. Sebastian was behind her, gripping the brush, the moment she sat on the bench. Her eyes drifted closed as he began. A soft smile graced her face, as he continued. She could get used to this.

She kept her eyes close as she felt his fingers work through her hair, braiding it. She waited until Sebastian had placed a soft hand on her shoulder, silently saying that he was finished. She opened her eyes.

One, the brown so familiar to Bella, the other the purple pentagram of the contract seal, carried over through two lifetimes now.

"I'll need a colour contact lenses for the seal. Styling my hair in front of my eye would help encase the lenses doesn't cover it completely. Maybe some glasses with false lenses..." she pondered out loud.

"Yes, Miss Swan." was Sebastian's quiet murmur.

"I would like some chamomile tea before bed." she said as she turned to look at him.

"Yes, Miss Swan." he replied as he tilted his head down in deference and agreement. She watched with leave the master bedroom before she moved from the vanity. She took off the black robe, placing it at the foot of the bed, then she turned down the blanket. Sliding in to bed, she finally let herself look at her right arm.

In the low lamplight, she could still see the faint sparkling sliver of the bites. They were pretty in a way. As they glimmered in the low light. How could something so beautiful be caused by -

 

                       fire -  
                                          pain -  
       ohmygod!ohmygod!no! -  
                                                help -  
        no! -  
                 not again -                      pork. burning pork -  
0- help -  
                 fire -               pain -

                              help -  
                                                    painpainpai-

 

A soft touch jolted her out of her panicking spiraling thoughts. She looked to see Sebastian's gloved hand on her right wrist. There was a heavy silence only broken by her breath. She bit the inside of her cheek as she risked a glance at Sebastian's face.

She only saw his profile. He knelt next to the bed, his entire body facing her wrist, but she could still see one of his eyes. She tried to suppress a shiver, (though a part of her was sure that she failed) at what she saw there.

There was something very dark within his visible eye. Something possessive. Primal. Promising bloody vengeance, as he stared at the silver scars on her arm. Her breath hitched as his glove less thumb traced along the vein on her wrist. When did he -? Where did his glove go?

Why was he reacting like this?

Why was he letting her see him react like this?

He would have seen the silvery scars covering her body when he rescued her, and again as he dressed her. Had he reacted as strongly than? Had he reacted stronger?

More importantly, why did the thought of the raw primal emotion she could see send shivers of desire through her?

Hesitantly she reached her free hand towards him, her fingers barely grazing the wool of his jacket before the quiet intensity he directed towards the silvery scars was focused on her in full.

Her skin prickled, as electricity danced up and down her spine.

The part of her that was Ciel didn't know what to do. He had just begun to enter into his teen aged years when he died. Intellectually he knew what was happening to them-her, emotionally he was confused. Which left the part of her that was Bella to react.

Her face flushed as Sebastian's eyes cleared of the primal rage. Smoldering instead, his entire self focusing on her with a passionate fire, that neither the part of her that was Ciel or the part of her that was Bella knew how to deal with.

Suddenly, as his eyes smoldered, flashes, fractals spiraled behind her eyes. The coloured movies, _Cinematic Record_  a voice whispered within her mind, played back. Thousands of almost kisses. Sebastian, a whispering voice over his shoulder, his breath hot against his ear. Half aborted caresses. The part of her that was Ciel never quite understood. Two men could not be intimate in that way. It just was not done. Especially considering his station and engagement to Elizabeth. The part of her that was Bella shivered, because there wasn't anything the part of her that was Ciel could say now to reject the bubbling mountain of desire growing just under her skin.

She knew her face flushed, her breath heavy, not with fear, but with desire. She was inches, seconds away from him, her body thrumming with _yesyesyes_  and _nownownow_.

A thousand moments of could have been had already passed into could still be.

One timeless moment and neither of them moved. She knew her desire was written across every line of her body, the satisfied look of male pride in Sebastian's eyes told her that much was true.

But she refused to make another decision with her libido. She knew that it was lust that drew her to Edward first. That much she had learn with Victoria. Love came after. Or at least it had for her. She refused to let her libido make any more major life decisions.

Instead of pressing herself against the firm form of the demon in front of her, as she wanted. (Oh god how she ached for him.) As she suspected her demon thought she would do, she pulled her wrist free, and settled into bed. As she turned on her side she saw the bafflement and the slight confusion that settled across Sebastian's face.

"Good night Sebastian." she said as she pulled the covers over her shoulder.

"Good night Miss Swan." he murmured as he stood by the door. His face cast in shadows, but she could still see the curiosity, the puzzlement and the clear _want_  in his eyes.

He turned the lights off, and closed the door behind him.

 

  
—

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First Annotation (*) For Bella/Ciel clothing, I gained a lot of inspiration from the character 'Caroline Channing' form '2 Broke Girls', just in a different colour palette. The shirt that I used, is called pussy bow blouse, this one is in white, and she will be wearing many of these just in various other colours.
> 
> If there is any errors please tell me I don't have a beta/editor. I know I'm going to miss things!
> 
> Please tell me what you think!


	4. Nightmares

—

 

She was in a forest. The green of it alien after so long. She stumbled, but a cold hand steadied her. Silently she looked up at the perfect alabaster of Edward's skin. Her eyes trailed from where his hand clasped hers, up his jacket covered arm, she saw his penny coloured hair, she bit her lip and her eyes hesitantly sought his face.

She didn't know what she had been expecting when she looked up, but the perfect cupid's bow of his lips twisted into a sneer wasn't it. Nor was the mocking lilt of his butterscotch eyes.

_No._

          _'I don't want you.'_  
_No._

          ' _I never wanted you.'_

_No._

                                    _Stupid girl.'_  
                _No._

                               ' _toy.'_

                                               _No._

          ' _slut.'_

_No._

Flames. All he could see were flames. His home was on fire.

He was on fire.  
                   _He could smell-_

She was on fire. Always. Always on fire.

          _Burning Pork._

His parents were stitched together! _Hisparentswerestitchedtogether! Hisparentswerestitchedtogether! Hisparentswerestitchedtogether! Hisparentswerestitchedtogether! Hisparentswerestitch_

Desperately trying not to cry as she felt a cold hand cupping her breast as bloody ruby eyes stared at hers unblinking. Victoria smiled. All teeth. A fangs.  
_She bit down. She bit down. She bit down._

_I'm on fire! I'm on fire! I'm on fire! I'm on-_

Gentle hands, and soft senseless words met her as she gasped awake, her eyes meeting nothing but the darkness of the expensive hotel room. Her thundering heart pounding a tattoo against her breast. Absently she realized that she was shaking. She was gasping at the air like she couldn't get enough.

_There was not enough air._  
                                        There was not enough air.  
                                                                              There was not enough air.  
                                                                                                                      There was not enough-

Strong arms held her, as she shook and shuddered. Gentle hands rubbed soothing circles on her back. Gradually her gasping breath ceased, but her body still shook as she pressed her forehead to Sebastian's chest. The cold metal of his pocket watch a welcome relief.

There was no Angela. There was no Ash. Victoria had fled the fires she started. And Edward had vanished before she could clumsily search for him.

They weren't here, and nothing could be done.

The part of her that was Ciel thought that this would be enough. That her body should stop shaking. That she should move away from Sebastian, and release her death grip in his jacket.

The part of her that was Bella refused to listen.

She wasn't required to be strong right now. She didn't have to feign strength as Ciel had. Believing that as a man, and head of his family there was no room for weakness. Either perceived or realized.

Here and now, she wasn't Ciel. She didn't have to be strong, she wasn't made of stone, and she knew that this wasn't a weakness as she gave in a cried into Sebastian's chest. Staining the white of his shirt with her tears. " _Don't ever leave me._ " she thought, over and over until her mouth whispered her plea into the air.

Sebastian's hold never faltered, and the rhythmic motions of his hand as he rubbed soothing circles on her back never ceased.

She didn't quite realize when she fell back into a peaceful and restful slumber.

 

—

 

She woke slowly as the soft morning light filled the room. She grumbled as buried herself further in the warm, comforting and _dark_ embrace of the covers.

Sebastian gave a low chuckle at her antics. She refused to admit that the sound reverberated around her, carrying itself up and down her spine. She steadfastly kept her head under the blankets, in a completely involuntary movement her eyes opened and she peeked out from the warm comforting embrace, and glared at the amused demon.

"Good morning Miss Swan. I have something that I think you will like," Sebastian began as she sat up rubbing the sleep from, her eyes. "and I have drawn you a bath."

She took the steaming cup of tea, she sat with both hands around the cup, smelling the pleasant fragrance. She stared at it puzzled. She couldn't place the flavor. She took a small sip and smiled up at her demon a the taste.

"Chocolate mint oolong tea, Miss Swan." Sebastian replied after a few moments as she tried to puzzle it out herself.

"Mmm. It's delicious." She said as she continued to sip at it.

Sebastian was at her side taking the cup the moment she finished. With a sigh she crawled the rest of the way out of bed. She carefully, quickly took a look at his face. His face was calm, placid, but his eyes still held that dark, primal _something_ that wanted to make her toes curl as he stared at her scars.

"I have placed several different items of clothing for you to chose for today." he continued when she paused at the door to the en-suite bathroom.

"Thank you." She said, before she turned. Her tone speaking for her, she wasn't meaning the tea, or cloths, or the bath, but of the early hours as she woke screaming, and the comfort she was offered without comment.

Sebastian's quiet, "You're welcome." after she turned, spoke of quiet understanding, unending patience, and the option for her to turn to him whenever she needed his strength.

 

—

 

She leaned against the closed door, and sighed. She shook her head and pushed herself off the door. The en-suite bathroom was through a dressing room, the white shelves in neat rows. She could see several outfits hung up on hangers, waiting for her choice.

Pausing at the mirror she pulled at the hair tie, and raked her fingers through her braid.

Shaking her hair out, she stepped out of her silk nightie. Looking at herself in the mirror, she could see the glittering scars covering her body.

When she sealed the contract with Sebastian, his demonic energy healed her, just as it had when she was Ciel, but his energy could only do so much. She was just this side of a healthy weight, she couldn't see her own ribs anymore, but if she didn't try to stay healthy on her own, her health would deteriorate as normal. It was also why she was able to eat all that she had yesterday without any issue.

Sebastian's demonic energy could do nothing about the scars.

Her right arm, was covered from wrist to shoulder. On her left arm there were few scattered glittering scars from her wrist to her elbow. A handful were on her inner thighs. She counted three on her lower stomach. She grimaced as she saw the three or four on the underside of her breasts.

She turned so her back faced the mirror. Taking a breath, she turned her head to see the healed brand on her back.

Her breath hitched. Stopped. Then she breathed in short, hurried gasps.

It was the same. It was _exactly_ the same. _Itwasexactlythesame!_ Shaking she turned away from the mirror. She leaned against the wall near it.

_"You should be honored little girl. The last time this was used I was still human, and it was in the 1800s on a little unclean brat."_

The words reverberated through her mind as she slid down the wall.

Victoria...Victoria was _there_.

_Victoriawasthere.Victoriawasthere.Victoriawasthere._

Gasping for air she collapses in on herself, her arms crossed, holding herself together. 'Victoria wasn't here now. Victoria couldn't get me here. Sebastian wouldn't let her.' She told herself over and over until her shaking ceased.

She breathed in, held it, then exhaled. She stood, her knees felt weak, but she stood, and slowly made her way to the the hopefully still warm bath. Taking a moment to twist her hair up and clip it before the septed into the water.

She sighed as she slid into the bath. It was surprisingly warm still. Had Sebastian anticipated it taking her long to get into the bath? Thinking it would take her longer to wake, or had he thought she would have had an...episode?

Maybe it was a bit of demon magic to keep it warm.

Shaking her head to dislodge the thoughts from her mind as she tried to enjoy the warm water relaxing her muscles.

Did Sebastian know that Victoria was there? Was that why she remembered being Ciel? Was he still trying to complete the original contract?

 

—

 

After she finished her relaxing in the hot water of the bath, she slipped into the shower, delighted that some of her favorite scents Sebastian had provided as shampoo, conditioner and body wash.

She left her hair in a towel turban for Sebastian to deal with, as she looked at the cloths that Sebastian had laid out for her.

There were three different tops, two were blouses, one black, the other sapphire blue, and were in the same style as the white one from yesterday. The third top was a soft cream colour and was a simple sweater. Though as her fingers ran the length of the sleeve she knew that it was cashmere. A black pencil skirt, a navy a-line skirt, and a pair of black pants like the pair she wore yesterday, were what Sebastian laid out to match the tops.

With a smile she knew what she wanted to wear. If anything important came up she could always change.

Quickly she put on the soft white bra and pantie set, and pulled the black pants on. She pulled the soft cream cashmere sweater over her head, mindful of the towel turban. Laughing lightly she stepped into the cartoon cat slippers, instead of the kitten heels, or the ballet flats, that were placed out to match the outfits.

She was fighting a smile as she opened the door and stepped back thru the doorway to the master bedroom. She could smell the breakfast that was waiting for her on the small table she ate at yesterday morning. With a quiet certainty she knew that it would still be warm, and that Sebastian had just laid it down as she finished dressing.

It was a mushroom and cheese omelet, and it tasted heavenly. Sebastian entered the master bedroom, as she was finishing the green tea, that he had prepared for her.

"I apologize that this has taken this long Miss. Swan."

She looked up at him, confused.

In answer, Sebastian presented her with a medium sized jewelry box. At her nod he opened the box. Inside were two very familiar, very old rings.

"I needed to have these re-sized for you, Miss Swan."

She stared at them in quiet wonder. Sebastian saved them. Her hand shook slightly as she picked them up, in essence they were the same. As her demon had said they had been re-sized to fit her feminine fingers. Their style changing slightly as well, more to fit her femininity then to change the rings to something else.

The blue jewel gleaming from her thumb, while the golden seal sat on her fore finger. Some tension she didn't realize she carried lifted, as they settled on her hand.

A thought occurred to her as she smiled at her rings. "Thank you. I-I didn't think I'd see them again." She whispered as she pondered.

Was Sebastian apologizing because they weren't available before she woke yesterday? Or, was he apologizing for not finding her, and subsequently not being able to give them back for a hundred odd years?

 

—

 

The lavish hotel living space was transformed into a relaxed classroom. She noted as she stepped out from the master bedroom. Sebastian had let her settle her emotions before requesting for her to join him in the living room.

She smiled as she sat behind the desk. Paper, binders, pens neatly set on the desk. Sebastian stood in front of her in his brown coat, and the corded glasses she was so familiar with.

"I have obtained the academic records for Isabella Swan, and have prepared lesson plans accordingly."

She nodded, an easy smile on her face. Sebastian would be a hard taskmaster, he always had been, but she had ordered this of him yesterday. She needed to complete her last year of high school and several university level courses for her to have any realistic chance of running her company.

At twenty-one she would be able to legally obtain control of her company, which was fortunate, giving her years instead of whichever unrealistic goal Sebastian would have set, and damn him, she would have tried her hardest to meet. Hell she still might. She tilted her head, she had told him that she wanted to pick up the violin again, the English program she wanted to go through...maybe she would still be as run ragged as she first feared.

She sighed opening her books, clicked her pen, as she let Sebastian's voice wash over her.

 

—

 

She groaned as she slid into the warm bath water that night. Trust Sebastian to have packed even more then what she had anticipated for lessons into her day. What she hadn't known was that as when Sebastian gotten her school records he also managed to find out the information that made the entirety of her life as Bella Swan.

The part of her that was Ciel was laughing with all the hysteria that he would allow himself, that is, the part of her that was Ciel gave a low chuckle. Of course Sebastian would go above and beyond the call of duty.

She gave him leave to.

_"I will be counting on you to tutor me through an accelerated program. I will also need a business degree, possibly a financial degree as well. I do want to go through an English program."_ She said. _"Perhaps I shall try the violin again. No piano. And anything else you can think of that I will need to run my company."_

_Anything else you can think of that I will need to run my company._

_Anything._

She felt like she should have started hitting her head on the table, when she remembered that this evening.

He found out that she knew some Italian and Russian, he saw that she would improve those languages. He also added french, Japanese, and Spanish to her schedule. She had a feeling that these languages were not going to be the last, and she knew, that they both wouldn't be satisfied until she had a firm grasp on the languages which Sebastian saw fit for her to learn.

He also knew about the accident when she was eleven. The one that broke her ankle, and ended her ballet dreams.

No one really remembered that her lack of grace wasn't inborn. It had been Renee's boyfriends, Garry-number-twelve-in-as-many-months, who'd hated her dancing. Thought that it took Renee's attention away from him. Hated her Babushka, who payed for it, when they lived in a small one room apartment.

With Garry-number-twelve-in-as-many-months constant complaints, Renee thought him no fun, and sent him packing, but the thought about Bella's ballet, and her mother paying for something so frivolous, when she needed it more, stayed with the women who claimed to Bella's mother.

It was then that Renee started making her late for lessons, and her practices on purpose. Forgetting that Bella had to be picked up afterward too.

But it had been Darcy-just-like-your-stories-Belly-Bean that ended her dream.

Some of Renee's boyfriends were handsy. Most were deterred when they overheard her talking to, or about her police chief dad. Bella would conveniently forget to tell them that he lived away from wherever they were at the time. The ones that weren't, she'd convince Renee that she had a dream of misfortune following them, if she stayed with the boytoy of the moment.

Renee was always one to listen to Bella when she told her about her dreams and what he found in the meaning and symbolism books, if her skeptic of a daughter found a vision so all consuming and powerful enough to tell Renee, then it must be a sign.

Mesmerizing the dream meaning books came in handy.

Darcy-just-like-your-stories-Belly-Bean, wasn't handys in that way. He was physically, confrontational and he didn't like Renee's mother's money being spent on Bella just like all the others. Renee had met him when when she was in a BDSM phase. Bella always knew too much about her mother's sex life.

His plan was to make sure she couldn't dance, then they could have the money and spend it how he liked.

He threw her down the stairs, and left. It was Renee who discovered her at the bottom of the stairs. Bella always figured that Darcy-just-like-your-stories-Belly-Bean, probably dragged her back up to throw her down again just to make sure.

She fractured her right arm in two places, broke her left arm and leg. Her spine was damaged, but not seriously. She had a concussion. She broke her ankle.

Everything but her ankle healed as it should have.

Babushka had payed for her hospital bills, but when it was discovered that she would never dance again, let alone walk without tripping she stopped sending money. Darcy-just-like-your-stories-Belly-Bean, didn't know that Babushka, was once a famous Russian ballerina, and was so proud of her only grandchild following in her footsteps, instead of her Nonna's, and became an artist. The two women always seemed to fight over their only grandchild.

When Darcy-just-like-your-stories-Belly-Bean found out that there wasn't anymore money, he left. A few weeks latter, Renee brought home, Now-know-why-dating-isn't-working-Lisa.

Now-I-know-why-dating-isn't-working-Lisa lasted a few months before Renee remembered that she liked penises.

She could see the mocking amusement in his red eyes as he informed her that she would be picking up ballet again. She realized in that instant that in the day and a half since her waking, she hadn't tripped once. Sebastian's demonic magic, had healed all her hurts, even the years old ones. In trade, he had to leave all of her scars.

So ballet, violin, various arts, were added to her high school curriculum Sebastian had prepared.

It was an amazing feeling to know that she was going to dance again. That she had danced today. Her body was protesting now though, and according to her demon, ballet wasn't the only style of dance he would be expecting her to learn.

She was sore, tired, her brain felt like mush. She knew that if she had to talk to anyone other than Sebastian - and maybe even him - she would bite their head off, but today had been a good day.

And she knew that tomorrow would be much of the same.

 

—

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Babushka is grandma is Russian, and Nonna is grandma in Italian. 
> 
>  
> 
> Also this is the last of my pre-written chapters so updates will be slower. 
> 
> Again, please tell me if there are any errors I have no editor/beta. 
> 
> Please, please tell me what you think!


	5. Midnight Weary

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So my mind was blanking for what to do next, so I started typing small drabble-y pieces at first, and as I get back into the swing of things, but the sections do get longer as I go on. Everything here is in chronological order. 
> 
> I apologize for the length of this, but it sets up for what I've already started with the next chapter. Hope you enjoy!

 

—

 

The lights flashed, blinding her. The overhead lights made her glad that she had worn the black jacket over her cream blouse. The applause was deafening. She continued to smile, a perfectly practiced demure smile.

People ate that up.

Funtom had just announced several new toy lines, as well as a new video game series at this years convention.

"Miss. Bell? Miss Bell? How did you come up with the idea for the story line?" The Host asks, telling her that it was a question from someone at home watching live on the internet. What made _this_ emerging franchise so sensational was that the new CEO herself was the brains behind it.

"Ah, I was wondering when that question would be asked. As with a reruns of the toy lines from the early years when Funtom was founded over one hundred years ago, I was reading old family journals. Real accounts of the last Earl Phantomhive. After his sudden reappearance after the tragic accident that claimed the lives of his family, he reappeared with a new butler by his side. Most accounts claim that the butler, perfect at his job. Almost inhumanly so. I took that thought and ran with it!" Isa giggles, "And here for the first time, the world premiere, the trailer for _Black Butler_!"

 

—

 

Isa couldn't stop laughing.

"You-!" she snorts, her breath coming in short gasps. "You-!" she couldn't finish her sentence, her body overcome with laughter once more. "Think...that-that-!" she feels her nose brake as they hit her with the but of a gun.

She still couldn't stop laughing.

She was on a business trip. Trying to buy out a competitor. Nothing serious. She has stepped away from her hotel suite to spend sometime in the gym. That's where she was kidnapped from.

She doesn't even know _why_ they kidnapped her. Ransom maybe. Isa knows that when Sebastian comes she will be mocked. It seems that even in this new life she was still prone to kidnapping.

Isa pouts through the blood leaking from her nose. Sebastian was making a dessert souffle tonight. She sighs rolling her eyes. Completely ignoring her captors. By the time she is able to _eat_ it, it'll be ruined.

She can order Sebastian to make her another one. Hmm Isa likes this plan.

They slap her face. She spits her blood in his eye. Oh...or a devil's food cake. She wants the chocolate, and after this kidnapping, she's getting it. She also loves the way deliciously sinful way Sebastian smirks when he makes it.

The one who slapped her, tears open the front of her blouse. Shouting something about showing her, her place. She starts chuckling low in her throat. He hasn't realized the other people in this room, and in the building are dead.

 

—

 

Sebastian is smirking at her.

She can't _see_ him but she knows that he is. She had chocolate on her cheek. She doesn't care. Keeping her face decidedly neutral, she turns to face him, taking the spatula from the mixing bowl, and...licks it. Her tongue curling around the tip as she cleans it of its chocolate batter.

He's not smirking anymore.

 

—

 

She never takes it off. It means so much to her.

When Sebastian had deemed her ballet sufficient he had enrolled her in a class.

She enjoyed them very much. She stayed in the class until its culmination, of them in a performance of 'Swan Lake' he had gotten her a simple necklace of a swan in flight.

Even though she wasn't the lead.

After he had given it to her he would sometimes call her 'Miss Swan' again. The other members of her staff took it as a nickname, and not her ever faithful demon giving her a piece of her past back.

 

—

 

"No." she growls into the phone, decidedly aware of how Sebastian's eyes focus on her, smoldering. "One point two."

"But he's here and wants it for nine. Isa...Nine million!"

"One point two. Billion." she states again, motioning for Sebastian to get her something to drink. She knows this back and forth will be going on for sometime.

And she doesn't think she can take anymore of Sebastian's heated looks without combusting, and all but demanding him take her.

The smirk her demon gives her as he leaves tells her he knows what she's doing.

Damn him.

"Fine Isa. He says, Nine point five."

"One point two." she growls, putting all her frustration into it. A fake plastic smile on her face, even though there was no one here to see it.

 

—

 

It's a small revenge. She knows it. But a revenge all the same. She's on her balcony. Yoga pants and a tank top.

Her body flowing into the positions she never thought it ever would be able to. Centered mind and steady breath.

Warrior II. Downward dog. Triangle. Warrior III. Pidgin. Finishing with Child's Pose.

It was a simple routine to begin her mornings with. Setting up to be able to deal with the members of the board.

The fact that she knows Sebastian is staring at her, for something _she's_ doing, and not because he wants to taunt her. Bonus.

 

—

 

In her life before, the setting she found herself in would have had her running. Screaming. Little Bella Swan at a high class, fancy Charity Gala. Instead, Isa Bell smirks slightly sipping her champagne. The lights twinkle like stars. An imitation of intimacy as the music washes over her.

Her hair's pulled up, with artfully placed curls cascading down her back and around her face. For once she's not wearing her prop glasses. Her swan necklace resting on the hollow of her throat, instead of diamonds or pearls. The deep dark colour of the royal blue of her evening gown contrasting nicely with the ivory of her skin.

Her skin is warm under the glamour Sebastian placed on her so she could wear the dress her heart had been set on. Her silvery venom-bite scars safely hidden for the night. The brand on her back, safely hidden for tonight.

Isa hadn't even asked her demon to disguise her scars. He had known the moment she had fallen for the blue of the fabric, her mind buzzing away with what her demon could do with it. Then the soul crushing reminding of her inhuman scars would always prevent her from wearing what she wanted.

Sebastian had offered his magic with barely a thought.

He took her hand, his other resting at her back. Her demon lead her, she smiled, softly up at him, he leads them in time with the music, and spins her within the circle of his arms.

 

—

 

She should be sleeping.

She's laying in bed playing with her swan necklace, she knows that Sebastian is waiting just outside the door to help her if she calls for him.

But this...She sighs and rolls over.

She knows that she's more Bella then Ciel. Not just that she's female, but the small part of her that is the Last Earl Phantomhive wants to travel back to England and swear to the Queen. Take up the mantle as her Watch Dog. Become a name feared in the Criminal Underworld.

The part of her that is Bella. American Bella. Can't comprehend swearing herself back into the line that was the cause of all of Ciel's grief. Ash. Angela.

Isa sighs, and sits up. "Chamomile tea, Sebastian." she speaks, her voice at a normal volume, knowing that her demon can hear her as if he were in the room with her.

She sighs again, pinching the bridge of her nose. She was restless. She took her fingers away, and folded them in her lap.

She was bored.

Then she snorts, because, why should she be bored? She's still taking several university courses online, she continues to practice several instruments, Sebastian is making sure she's keeping up with her language lessons, and of course her dancing, she's running a multi-billion dollar company. Launching several new game lines. She destroys her competitors with an ease that most find unnerving, but still...she's...bored.

Sebastian opened the door, her tea in his hand.

"Thank you." she whispers, after she takes a sip. She's bored, and there's something, a small something tugging at the back of her mind.

She's silent as she finishes her tea, handing the empty teacup to Sebastian when she finishes.

She snuggles under the covers, the beginnings of an idea, a plan forming in her mind.

 

—

 

She wakes with an energy she hasn't felt in months. Showering quickly before putting on a black blouse, and a navy pencil skirt. Choosing a kitten heel to complete her outfit. Leaving her hair in a towel turban for Sebastian to deal with.

She hums as she sips the mildly fruity flavored tea Sebastian put out for her, and begins eating the beautiful breakfast crepes and blueberry scones, unconcerned that her demon had known she was craving the scones without her telling him, even though they didn't go with the mushroom and spinach crepes.

Isa could feel the the bemusement coming from her demon as he stood behind her.

When she's mostly finishes her breakfast she motions for him to place this mornings work in front of her.

She's still humming as she works through it. Signing where needed. She's sure she looks ridiculous, wearing her business clothes, her hair still in a towel, pen and paperwork on one side, while she nibbled on her blueberry scones on the other.

But wholly for the first time in her life, she doesn't care.

Sooner than she thought possible she finishes with the paperwork in front of her.

She slides into her seat in front of her vanity, still humming and nearly bouncing with energy.

As Sebastian works on her hair, she knows that he's wondering what had come over her. She continues to hum and declines to answer until he's finished.

At her explanation his brow arches, a smirk twists his lips and his eyes light in their menacing and paradoxically comforting red.

 

—

 

Sebastian of course had been waiting for her to cave, as it were. He hadn't yet determined which angle she would be working from, but he already anticipated her needs.

He was after all, one _hell_ of a Butler. She thought with a snort and a fond eye roll.

Isa sat behind a modern glass desk. She frowned. Neither Bella, nor Ciel liked it. They both preferred something in wood. Old fashioned. They both preferred the feel and smell of paper books, instead of the tablet she used for more and more of her work, but right now in casual wear, a blond wig and coloured contacts she sat behind the glass desk.

This was one of the avenues Sebastian setup for her use to alleviate some of her boredom. She knows that if she were less Bella, that Sebastian would have used if carefully laid plans and they would be swearing to the Queen right now instead of behind this too modern glass desk.

Isa fixes a smile to her face when she hears the tinkling of bells as the door opens, and someone walks through.

She catches the sights of the words on the glass window, and smiles again.

Midnight Weary. Private Detectives, Come rest your head. We'll do the rest.

 

—

 

It should be cold and heavy in her hand, but it's not. A cold, sharp clarity slithers up her spine as she places the pistol in her shoulder holster.

Legally she can carry a concealed weapon. She's one of, if not the, richest women in the world. She's already been kidnapped once this year. And knowing her luck, there will be any more attempts to come.

This is the first time she's utilized her licence, normally she left the entirety of her protection to Sebastian, and her human protection detail.

But for tonight, she arms herself.

 

—

 

Her back was to a wall, pistol aloft in her hand. She could hear gunfire, screams, sputtering denials. Above the mundane sounds in this warehouse was the lyrical, yet mocking voice of her demon.

Her smirk grew. She wasn't bored any more.

 

—


	6. Daisy Chains

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is some naughty language in this chapter.

—

 

Isa hummed as she sat behind her too modern glass desk in her detective disguise, she wasn't doing this for the money, she really didn't need it. Any money gained through Midnight Weary was donated to Charity.

The best part about Midnight Weary, was because she wasn't doing this for the money she didn't have to take the overabundance of cases involving cheating spouses. She, nor Sebastian had to stalk anyone and take risque photos.

Well, not unless they didn't want to. Isa thought with a saucy smirk. Sebastian raised an eyebrow from his position across from her. For the first time in a while, Isa had to fight down Bella's initial reaction and blush.

Quickly she forced her thoughts always from risque photos. Sebastian taking risque photo. Sebastian being the subject of risque photos.

When a child would come in about missing pets, Isa would have Sebastian find them if he could, and if not, she gave them gift cards to her Toy Store. She wasn't in the business of replacing family pets, but a stuff toy could be a balm over that wound until the family was ready to buy a new pet.

That left the most interesting cases to chose from.

 

—

 

"My Wife is dead." The man in a cheap suit across from her too modern glass deck began. "I've gone to the police, but they closed the case. They say that it was a mugging gone bad, and that's the end of it."

"But you don't believe in what the police have told you?"

"No. Not at all. We've been married fifteen years. I know my wife. She takes self defense classes. She's been thinking of _teaching_ them!" The man's watery blue eyes stared into her with a blade sharp in their intensity.

"Okay Mister Williams -"

"Craig."

"Craig. Is this everything you know?" Isa asked, gesturing to the file Craig Williams had given her. His watery blue eyes darted around, "You can tell me, that's why you came here, and not to the police again, I need to know if you are hiding anything."

"I told the police, but they-nothing came of it. My wife, Joyce, she was getting daisies. They were paid for with a credit card in my name. But I didn't pay for them. I did some of my own research. Other women have been disappearing. They got daisies too."

"Okay. Thank you Mister-" the man across from her frowned, "Craig. I will do my best to find your wife. I promise."

 

—

 

"Sebastian. I want everything that could be linked to these daisy disappearances." Isa ordered as soon as Craig Williams left, the bells tinkling after him.

"Yes. Miss Swan." She heard his say, his lips twisted into a slight smirk, as he placed his hand to his heart and gave a slight bow.

It felt _good_ to be in the thick of things again.

 

—

 

Three other women, including Joyce Williams, aged mid to late thirties to their early forties, have gone missing within nine months. One every three months, like clockwork. The daisies each of the women received twenty-four hours before their disappearances were paid for in a family member's name, husband, father, brother, respectively, and the daisies only came from one flower shop.

Each of the women had last been seen leaving their homes. None of them had been caught on any security cameras, and there was no activity from their accounts since their disappearances.

Somehow the police department didn't think any of this was suspicious.

Each of these women, Joyce Williams, Emma Garner, and Melinda Forbes were of the same general height and build. Isa frowned minutely, there was something here that was vaguely familiar....but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

With a sigh, she rolled her shoulders. It wasn't much. But Isa always enjoyed a challenge.

 

—

 

Living in the twenty-first century was a blessing and a curse, Isa thought as she smiled at the small crowd that had gathered around her. Sebastian at her back, her human protection detail keeping the crowd back. One at a time she was autographing what was in front of her.

It had been two months since she began investigating the case of the disappearing women, and she had gotten nowhere. Right now her only viable plan was to wait four weeks, for the next women to be targeted. Sebastian had already bugged the Flower Shop; The Wishing Well Florist. They were receiving a twenty-four hour live feed.

Though as of an hour ago nothing suspicious was evident. The Shop was owned and run by Dan, and Lori Wells, and it had been owned by the Wells family for nearly twenty years, since the opening of the shop itself.

Lori and Dan had married five years ago, and had one child, with another on the way. Dan had a very large extended family, while Lori only had one brother, who was a professional athlete and hadn't seen his sister in years, not since her wedding.

What kept her in good spirits over the length of this case, was that with the available information, even Sebastian seemed stumped.

 

—

 

"Uh Hi?" A quiet voice spoke up next to where Dale was walking.

"Ah...yeah?" Dale stops, turning towards the voice.

"Uh...could..could you go into this store and order me a dozen daisies?"

"The hell man?"

"I-I _like_ the lady at the counter, but..."

Dale barks out a laugh. "Okay, I get that. You want me to what buy daisies? So you can go back in there and _give_ them to her?"

"Ah..no! No! I-I want to surprise her after her shift. Ya know?"

"A bit sappy, but I've been there."

"So you'll do it?" Dale nods. "Thanks! Here! Here's my credit card. I'll wait out here."

He raises an eyebrow as he grabs the plastic card. "I'll be out in a minute then."

 

—

 

"Miss Swan, a young man has just purchased a dozen daisies."

"In whose name?" Isa asks as she slips into her jacket. Placing her pistol in her shoulder holster.

"Terrance Hoffman." Sebastian replies as he assists.

"The women in his life?" She continues as she slips on her heel boots.

"His sisters, Carolyn, Pamela, and his wife, Audrey." Sebastian answers as he holds the door open.

"And we don't know which women will be targeted?" She asks stepping through the doorway.

"No."

"Who made the purchase?" Ias asks, as she walks towards her foyer, and to the elevator.

"A man named Dale Todd. I have the address."

"Well then, let's go."

 

—

 

The address lead them to a run down apartment. Isa could see dried blood stains on the concrete stoop.

Sebastian lead the way up the stairs towards the apartment of one, Mister Todd. Isa watched as Sebastian picked the lock on the door as he had before. The cold clarity was reasserting itself, slithering up her spine.

Sebastian shed his coat to place over one of the kitchen chairs so that she could sit as they waited.

She sat, crossed her legs at the ankle and folded her hands in her lap.

She wasn't waiting long.

The door cracked open and a young man, with a slim build, his hair a sandy blond, stepped through the doorway. His head bobbing to the music in his ears. He'd closed the door, replaced the chain before he even looked up.

"Holy-Fuck-Shit! Fuck! Who the hell do you think you are?!" the man shouted when he saw them. Sebastian was not amused. Honestly neither was Isa.

"Mister Todd, today you purchased a dozen daisies from the Wishing Well Florist. Where are they?"

The man's eyes widened, fear creeping into his eyes. "How the _fuck_ did you know that?!"

"Where are they?" Isa asked once more, her voice glacier cold.

"Why the hell should I tell you that?"

"Where are they?" Isa repeated.

"Fuck this! Get out of my apartment or I'm calling the cops!" Dale Todd shouted moving from the door.

"If you do not start answering my questions Mister Todd, a women is most likely going to die." Isa replied, speaking slowing as if to a child.

"D-die?" the man sputtered.

"Yes. Now where are they?"

"I don't' know! I just bought them for the guy and gave them to him!"

"Which 'guy'?" Isa voice was dry.

"I don't' know! He gave me his credit card and asked me to buy the flowers. Said it was for the chick at the counter. Crushing on her he said!"

"What did he look like."

"My height, I guess. Squeaky voice. Brown hair. His-his-I don't remember his face." he finished his brow furrowed. Confusion radiating from him.

"Thank you Mister Todd, that will be all." Isa replied after a moment. She stood, Sebastian reclaiming his jacket, and the both of them left the small bachelor apartment of Dale Todd.

 

—

 

"He was telling the truth." Sebastian spoke as they sat in her sleek black car.

"A criminal this sophisticated would use a proxy to make the purchase with the stolen credit card." Isa nibbled on her lip. "Though, I suspect there is something...other, at work on this case Sebastian."

"As do I, Miss Swan, as do I."

 

—

 

They had place all three of the women they suspected to be the next target under surveillance. They had less than fifteen hours before the next scheduled abduction.

Isa had Sebastian cancel her appointments, citing a family emergency, and blaming it on her fabricated sister Anna.

Only Audrey and Carolyn lived in the city. The other sister, Pamela, lived across the country and so far the criminal behind this hadn't targeted anyone outside of the city. So Isa and Sebastian focused their attention on the remaining two.

The wife, Audrey was the one who had received the daisies, so they were parked outside her building, waiting, but Isa wouldn't put it past a criminal this sophisticated to know that someone was investigating him, and brake pattern and go after one of the sisters.

While Sebastian was keeping an eye on things. Isa was trying to be productive, and finish up some paperwork. Or paperless work as it were, in hand was her tablet. She frowns, she still didn't like it. Not because it was expensive, no, she had been broken of that reaction the moment Ciel woke within her, but because it wasn't paper. She enjoyed working with actual paper and ink. In the car, however it wouldn't be practical for her to bring her files along.

Especially not when, at a moment's notice the criminal kidnapper could appear and snatch away their next target. Light music was playing in the background as she worked. Trusting that Sebastian would tell her if anything came up she tried to lose herself in the music as she worked.

But there was something tugging at her mind. A nagging feeling that she was missing something. Something monumental. Game changing, life altering.

Frowning she closes her documents, and pulls up the files with the photos of the missing women.

Joyce Williams, 5'4" with an athletic build. Frizzy red hair, and muddy brown eyes.

Emma Garner, 5'2", a little pudgy, curly brown hair, and green eyes.

Melinda Forbes, 5'6", model thin, hair raven black, with sky blue eyes.

Audrey Hoffman, 5'4", slight build, blond hair, her eyes a pale grey. She has a killer smile. A familiar smile.

Isa felt the car start to move. Sebastian tailing Audrey Hoffman as she drove away, but she didn't make a sound. All of these women were as pale as she was.

Something cold settled in her stomach.

 

—

 

They watched as someone flagged down Audrey. Leaning into the window, before he slid into the passenger side.

They continued to follow at a safe distance.

All was quiet, even the music had been turned off, until Isa whispered. "I know that man." her voice clipped, full of frozen rage.

 

—

 

They followed Audrey's car until it stopped at what looked to be a warehouse. One in use, and what looked like it had been in use for some time.

They waiting in the car until the man, carrying Audrey over his shoulder walked into the warehouse and out of sight.

"That man is going to die tonight Sebastian." Isa spoke lightly, calmly as if she were commenting on the weather, as she slip out of the car.

"As you wish Miss Swan." Sebastian murmured as he held open the door for her. His brow quirked up in question, but Isa declined to answer his silent question.

Isa walked forward with new purpose, as Sebastian followed, her ever present shadow.

 

—

 

"You're almost perfect my dove." a familiar voice cooed lovingly his voice echoing oddly in the warehouse. "Nearly done now, my dove. One last piece to complete your perfection."

She could hear the sounds of Audrey struggling. Isa knew that the other women was gagged and bound. Both her and Sebastian continued at their sedate pace, their steps strangely silent.

The warehouse was lived in. Modeled like someone's home. They passed a kitchenette, a messy bedroom, and they continued past a living room, the TV muted, but playing a sports channel, until they stepped into what would be considered a workroom.

Audrey Hoffman on the concrete floor. Her eyes widened as she caught sight of them her gagged screams increasing in frequency.

The man, the criminal, kidnapper and obviously murder, turned away from the table he was leaning over, to see what had drawn Audrey's attention. He gasped, his eyes wide first with surprise, then with delight. "Bella!"

"Darcy." Isa greeted

"I _knew_ this was going to work!" he said, patting the covered table behind him. "I just knew it Belly-Bean!"

"What was going to work Darcy?"

"I just want us to be a happy family again Belly-Bean. That's all I want."

"A family? Darcy, you broke my bones." and with that simple sentence she knew that this man's fate was sealed. Even if she hadn't told her demon that by the end of tonight he would be a corpse, Sebastian would have killed Darcy for his past actions.

"I didn't _mean_ too Belly-Bean! You have to believe me!"

"You wanted me hurt so that I couldn't dance anymore. You knew what you were doing."

"No-no, Belly-Bean. That's not-"

"And when the money stopped coming you left. You never wanted to be a happy family."

"That it not true!" he shouted stepping away from the table the white sheet pulling away as he did.

_Hermotherwasstichted-_ Isa frowned, forcing her racing, panicking thoughts away. They wouldn't serve her here, but she was right. The women on the table. Joyce's body, Emma's hair, Melinda's eyes, all that was missing was Audrey's smile.

"You are insane."

"The spells worked! You're here Belly-Bean! I did it right! All I have to do is give your mother her smile back and we can be one happy family!"

"You are bat-shit insane." she breathed out. In an instant, before she could blink, a knife was plunged into Audrey Hoffman chest. Darcy's lips began moving, no sound coming out, as her venom-scars started to sting. Half a heartbeat later Sebastian was in front of her, pressing her into his back.

Darcy wasn't just crazy, Isa thought dully as she watched the women on the table twitch and move. He had magic too. Darcy-just-like-your-stories-Belly-Bean was a necromancer.

The stitched together women sat up, then stood shambling forward. "That's not Renee. You know that-that thing isn't my mother! She's married to-" then she remembered why Lori Wells seemed so familiar to her. "The daisies you've been sending, the shop is owned by Phil's sister!" she finished with a laugh in her voice. "You have to Frankenstein a women together, because even _you_ are too fucking crazy for my mother. And that, _sir_ ," she sneered, "is saying something."

"You are wrong! You are wrong! You are _wrong!_ " Darcy shouted, his voice shrieking to an almost inhuman pitch. Darcy flung his fling out in front of him and the shambling women stalked forward on unsteady legs. "You're a bad girl and you need to be punished!" The stitched together women straightened, and and flew toward her at inhuman speeds.

Sebastian intercepted the women effortlessly, literally ripping her apart at the seams. Before stalking toward the now, blubbering necromancer.

"Stop." Isa whispers. Orders. Sebastian does. Isa walks up toward the man she had feared for a great portion of her life. The man who ended her dreams, and made her the but of many, many jokes.

She wrinkled her nose. He pissed himself. He thought his Frankenstein zombie women was the be all and end all of monster.

"You are an idiot." she bites out as she punches him in the face.

"Miss Swan?" Sebastian asks, curious.

"I have issues I need to work out." she explained hitting the man once more. He whines pathetically.

"Very well Miss Swan." his voice a dark rumble.

 

—

 

In the end Sebastian was the one who ended Darcy's life. Isa shaking her head. Why had she ever been afraid of that pathetic excuse of a man?

Unfortunately Audrey Hoffman was dead. The knife, a ritual dagger of some sort magically finding her heart in the chaos. She let Sebastian contact the authorities to deal with this mess. Tomorrow morning she would call Craig Williams and tell him that no more women would disappear after receiving daisies.

She was currently sitting in her sleek black car delicately cleaning Darcy's blood off her hands. She was going to burn this outfit. No, she was going to order Sebastian to burn it for her. She had already taken off her heeled boots. She could just tell, that Darcy's urine had, touched them, as she was working through her issues.

The next order of business, champagne, and a bubble bath.

 

—

 

The champagne was perfect as she sipped at it, before placing it on a small table Sebastian had set up for her. He had even prepared fresh strawberries for her. Isa lazily smiled under the warm water.

The door clicked close as Sebastian entered her en-suite bathroom. She watched him with her eyes half closed as he discarded his black wool jacket, and began rolling up the sleeves of his white dress shirt.

The only reason she was allowing this, was for the thick layer of bubbles preserving her modesty. Isa knew that Sebastian had already _seen_ her naked, and that his demonic eyes most likely could see through the delicate layer of white bobbles, but really they for her own peace of mind.

He begins with her hands, one and then the other, continuing the pattern, up her arms, slowly, ever so slowly, Isa gives a pleased moan when Sebastian's hands finally finds her shoulders, her eyes fall closed as his skillful fingers knead her tender flesh.

She loses herself to the sensations. Floating in the warm bath water. Everything in her world narrows until all that is left if the feeling of Sebastian's fingers kneading her flesh. He's so close to her, now that he's sure she's lost to the sensations, he's not holding himself so stiffly. Isa can feel the hot puffs of his breath against her neck. Warmth begins to pool within her core.

The almost insatiable chuckle, save for the hot breath against her neck, shows her, that her demon can tell.

She keeps making small involuntary noises of pleasure as Sebastian keeps to his task, working out the stress of the last three months.

She could feel his thumbs pressing against the back of her neck, his long fingers curling around her throat. She imagines the black of his fingernails against the white of her throat. Innocence and sin. She imagines, his fingers tightening, as the contract seal on Sebastian's hand crackled with power. She's the master, and he, the servant. He the demon, she the human.

Her life had always been in Sebastian's hands, she thinks, even when she was clueless and hopelessly in love with a vampire. This moment rather defines the point. Keeping her eyes closed and her body relaxed is no trying task, she had at one point, and continues to this day, to trust this demon with her soul after all, and simply enjoys the massage her demon is so kindly giving her.

 

—

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, the basic idea for this chapter was based off of/inspired by the quest chain starting with 'Prime Suspect' ending with 'All that Remains' From Dragon Age 2. 
> 
> But holy balls. I got this banged out in under six hours. My Muse was singing! But Please do not expect this kind of pace again. I am really sore and my brain is fried! Hope you enjoy!


End file.
